Chapter 69

“LMAO?”

‘It’s Laughing my ass off.’

‘How ‘bout LOL?’

‘Laugh out loud.’

‘FTW?’

‘For the win.’

‘Hmm… I thought it was different.’

Layla laid her head onto Neil’s shoulder as she pondered on things while passing time. Neil on the other hand was looking at her fondly while the lights on her eyes blinked rapidly as she searched the net, savoring these few moments of peace as it was the first time in a week where they finally could breathe easy.

‘Why? What did you think it was?’ Neil asked, humoring her.

‘I thought it was Fuck the what.’

‘Fuck the what?’ Neil chuckles as Layla looked annoyed that he was making fun of her.

‘Nevermind…’ She answered coldly.

‘Sorry sorry I couldn’t help it… come on…’ He apologized as he tried to get back into her good side by putting his arm around her, squeezing her with a hug.

‘Hmph! Fine. What’s TTFN then?’

‘Wha-- uhh…’

‘Fufu… so you don’t know everything?’

‘Ehh? Since when did I say that?’

‘Hmph! You always say that.’

‘Since when?’

Neil chuckles as they both continue to tease each other, so much so that the people in the bus around them were starting to give them annoyed looks. But despite Neil sensing this, as long as he sees Layla looking happy, he doesn't give a damn.

The last week for them was nothing short of on the edge as they try to find ways to escape the clutches of the metro. Their first night out was a struggle as Neil thought it would be easy to book a boat going directly towards the island of Cebu, but within an hour of them leaving the apartment, swarms of metro police had taken over the major transport points within the city that they were forced to hop around different motels for each and every night until they found a ride out.

It wasn’t until the fourth day of hopping around motels that they stumbled on a bus ride going to the Bicol regions to the south east that they found the ticket out. For the next two days they spent their time riding buses and jeepneys to get from one port to another, island hopping their way towards Cebu as they found themselves to where they are now.

On a bus, on a ship, sailing towards their destination.

And as Neil takes a quick peek outside the window, he can see their promised land closing in on the horizon.

They have finally made it.

‘We’re near!’ Layla said as her GPS pinged her their location.

‘Layla! I thought I told you not to use that?!’ Neil said with a hushed shout.

‘I understood what you meant by that, master so I’ve already created precautions when it comes to my tracking.’

‘Meaning?’

‘I borrowed some other satellites to get my tracking.’

‘Borrowed eh?’ He said looking like he was about to scold her as Layla pouted her lips, thinking she did something bad.

‘Aww don’t Layla… I didn’t mean it that way. You know… I just wanna make sure we’re safe.’ Neil said as Layla quickly wrapped her arms around him, which was painful for Neil as she somehow forgot to gauge her strength.

‘Sorry! And I love that you’re always thinking of me.’ She said as buried her teary eyes into his chest. If before Neil didn’t care much about the people around them, it was starting to dawn on him that maybe Layla’s expressing her feelings too much as he feels the bloodlust radiating from the folks surrounding them.

‘Layla!.’ Neil responds as he pulls her grasp away from him. ‘Relax… remember how I told you to act when we’re being watched?’ He said as Layla nodded and looked around to see any potential threats, to which she found none.

‘Even if there are no enemies, there’s still no stopping people who wanna snitch on us… so let's be extra careful okay?’ He said as Layla nodded while Neil gave her a kiss on the cheek.

‘This is the ship captain. May I inform you passengers that the ship will start its docking procedure. Please stay in your seats until the ship has pulled into a complete stop. There will be multiple parking maneuvers because of the harbor size so you can expect our time of arrival to be an hour from now.

Please be advised. We are still on schedule.’

The couple breathed a sigh of relief as they heard the ship captain announce the news that their entry to freedom was near. As a precaution, Neil had Layla use her new signal connections to ping any radio frequency that contained certain keywords pertaining to them. She had pinged a couple of signals from the port authority that came close to their description, but most of them were red herrings, as Layla immediately scanned the data coming in to confirm if there was a threat. Which was none.

Exactly after an hour of positioning the ship on the dock, Neil felt the gates of the watercraft open as the bus that they boarded on started to back away from the ship. Greeting the island of Cebu with a sudden *thud* as the tires hit solid ground for the first time since they left the province of Bicol, five hours ago.

He turns to Layla with a smile as the pair looked out of the window to see the beautiful rays of the morning sun, illuminate the countryside as it transitions from the lush green scenery to an infinitley vast turquoise blue ocean, that seemingly blurs the line where the horizon divides the water and the sky.

Layla rests her head onto his shoulders, keeping her wandering gaze towards the scenery outside as her pupils gleam in wonder at how beautiful everything looks to be.

Neil smiles as he appreciates her composure at the wonders around her, but such a peaceful moment can only last for so long as he remembers to do his due diligence and start his search for a place to stay.

‘Layla?’ He breaks their silence as he gingerly calls for her attention.

‘Hmm?’

‘You said you secured a way to roam the net right?’ He asked as Layla nods happily.

‘Can you… link my backpack to the same connection that you have?’

‘Ok master! But if you’re gonna use the net, I’ll be more than happy enough to assist.’ She adorably suggests, making Neil hug her tightly with a kiss to her forehead.

‘It’s okay Layla, we can share the burden. Besides, I’d rather have you scan our security non stop instead of dividing your attention for mundane things.’

‘Like what?’

‘Like searching for a place to stay.’ Neil said with a smile as Layla looked at him confused. ‘You’re probably thinking why am I not asking you for help on that matter aren’t you?’ He said as Layla gasps in surprise.

‘You can read my neural data?!’ She responds, but Neil finds this amusing as he chuckles at her reply.

‘Nope. I just guessed.’ He answered, which made Layla even more surprised, as if he had just shown her some magic trick. Neil sees how adorably innocent she is and gives her another kiss on the cheek. Layla chuckles as she receives it and seemingly forgets her line of thinking as the happiness she felt from the kiss made her forget.

For a brief moment, Neil had forgotten that his companion is an A.I.

‘Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?’ Aida asks in concern as she sends Denzo off at the door of her place.

‘Yea. It’s not like it’s my first rodeo when it comes to dealing with that bitch.’ He answered but it only made Aida worry more after hearing his defiant reply.

‘Denzo… please… just. I don’t want the “sitch” between you and your mother get even worse… I’m… I’m afraid--’

‘You’re afraid she’s gonna hinder “us”?’ Denzo cuts off her reply as Aida silently nods, making Denzo *sigh* in response. He kisses her cheek and slides his hands down her arms to hold her hands tightly as he looks to her eyes to ease her worry.

‘Trust me on this. Okay?’ He softly spoke as Aida couldn't help but still feel worry. From how Denzo mentions his mother to her, she seems to think she is a dystopian warlord, and that Denzo is just recklessly sending himself to war with that person. Denzo is not aware of his effect on her with his tall tales of experiences, that deep in his mind he was questioning why she was overreacting to him just meeting his mother.

Nonetheless he lets go of her grasp and gives her one last kiss on the lips before moving out and making his way back home. A task he had to do in a hurry as his work shift for this weekend was about to start after lunch time, which was only a couple of hours away.

Thankfully there were not a lot of people inside the metro rail station that he was able to avoid the usual dismal lines that plagued the weekdays, dashing his travel time from an hour to a measly fifteen minutes. The final uphill walk up the two way road that leads to the entrance to the suburbs was his final hurdle as he pushed on the last ten minutes walk as it was not long before he was finally face to face with their house’s front door.

He takes a deep breath, and rings the doorbell.

But there was no answer.

He rings it again.

And again.

And again.

But there was no sign of anyone coming for the door.

Immediately he realizes that this was her answer for him not coming home the night before.

He sighs as Denzo kicks the dirt underneath his shoe. He looks around to find any spot he could use to wait her temper out but he still remembers he has work that afternoon so he rejects the idea.

But he still has another trick up his sleeve.

He takes a few steps towards the side of the house and checks if his “tree” was still the same tree he knew. To his luck, it seems like the tree has not been trimmed or cut ever since he escaped that night to Uncle Thor’s. So with a mischievous smirk in his smile he hopped up on to it and made his climb up to where his room is on the second floor. Coming inside the house in the opposite way he escaped it that rainy day, all the way back since the start of the school year.

He sneaks up on the sturdy branch that reaches out towards his window. Carefully minding his balance he sneaks closer to the edge on the tips of his toes, taking a deep breath as he opens the window while keeping himself from falling a full floor below.

‘Three… Two…’

He counts the last number in his mind as he makes the leap from the tree, grasping hard on the window sill as he pulls himself up to the safety of his room. As he lays on the floor to catch his breath, he notices a pair of familiar feet just beyond arm's reach as he looks up to where it leads, revealing that “woman” sitting on his chair by the study with an annoyed look on her face.

‘Look who decided to show up.’ She said as Denzo stood up to pat the dust off of his gym uniform. ‘And ughh… What is that smell?’ She followed up as the breeze shifted towards her.

‘That! Is why I didn’t show up. I stayed with a friend to avoid the commute yesterday. The weather was bad, just in case you didn’t know.’ Denzo answered back as he threw his bag onto the floor, storming out of the room.

‘Don’t you use that tone against me mister!’ His mother said as she chased him out of the room. ‘You know damn well you could’ve called but you didn’t! Don’t you realize how much you had me worried all night just wondering where you are?!’

‘Worried?!’ He shouts back, stopping on his tracks before facing her with a smirk on his lips. ‘That’s new…’

His mother stood aghast as Denzo walked away from her, disappearing behind the bathroom door as the shower turned on, leaving her feeling annoyed and lost at how stubbornly disagreeable her son was towards her. Knowing that there was nothing she could do at the moment, she decides to leave him be, as Denzo sighs in relief that she didn’t try to pound the door open like he thought she would.

A few minutes pass by before he emerges from the bathroom feeling all refreshed, poking his head out of the door to see if the coast is clear. Much to his surprise, she was not waiting for him and the hallway was wide open for him to walk out onto without getting confronted. He gets a fresh new change of clothes and gathers the rest of yesterday’s clothing for the washer, making his way down with the intent to use the laundry.

He hears strange noises coming from the living room, but he doesn’t mind it, instead wondering why the house was eerily empty. He dumps his clothes by the wash and starts the machine, taking note that he added in the right detergent for his gym clothes before storming back upstairs to restock his backpack with what he needs for work.

After a few moments of prep he goes back down the laundry room to retrieve his clothes and hangs them up to air dry by the lawn so that they wouldn’t smell funky when they dry. It took him a good half an hour to finish the chores but it still felt eerie for him that his mother didn’t even try to talk, now that he was expecting her to show up and give him an earful.

To which he had trained himself enough to not listen to.

He figured since she had distanced herself that she finally gave up in trying to mold him into the son she always wanted him to be, which was something he had always hoped for to happen, but for some reason this sudden disappearance was “uncanny” even for his mother’s standards.

He takes a satisfied breath of fresh air, looking at all the work he had done before deciding to spend a few hours relaxing inside his room, once again passing through the living room where the strange but unavoidable noises reside, as he quietly made his way up to his room to seek solitude.

‘Oh.’

‘Oh?’

‘Well I take it that you're done already?’

‘Wait… wh- what are you doing?’

Denzo was slowly feeling nervous as he found his mother going through his closet, dumping most of his clothes onto his bed.

‘Well I figured since you’re not that concerned with everyone that lives in this house that I assumed you don’t want to continue living here for the foreseeable future.’ She ominously advised as Denzo froze in place, not knowing what to think or do.

‘Oh what now? Cat got your tongue. Here let me put it clearly for you.’ She said as she stood up and handed him his backpack with a push. ‘I’m helping you leave this place… Isn’t that what you want?’

‘Uh…what? What??’

‘You wanna leave this place right?... I’m helping you pack.’

‘Wh-what are you saying? And why are you going through my stuff?

What do you mean I’m LEAVING?!’

‘Well?

Aren’t you?’

She stood in front of him with her arms crossed and a brow raised as Denzo stammered his words, not knowing what to do.

‘Why now?! What the fuck is this?’

‘You! Don’t give a SHIT about this home!

YOU! Could care less about the people in this house!

YOU!

You don’t deserve to live here.

You love living with your irresponsible grandfather?!

Then go.

Live a life of ruin.

JUST . LIKE . HIM!’

She goes back to continue messily throwing in a couple of his clothes into his luggage as Denzo tries to stop her, but as soon as he does he gets a mighty slap to his face.

‘Don’t you dare!’ She demands pointing her finger at him as Denzo was thrown aback, unable to speak from both the pain and shock, making his leave as his only resort as he runs off and bangs the door behind him.

Not content with a single slam, he repeatedly slams the door a couple more times to make her eardrums ring before running downstairs and out towards the tree where he climbed up on. Taking a cigarette out from his backpack and making sure that he was visible from the window of his room, hoping his mother would see.

It didn’t take that long before he heard the loud banging of her protests from his bedroom’s window.

‘Denzo! How dare you smoke that in front of me! You stop that now or else I’ll--’

Her muffled shouts of anger echoed through his ear and out the other as he kept huffing and puffing the tar and the nicotine from the tobacco, looking smug as he pretends to not notice her anger shouting from behind the window pane.

A minute of shouting and banging passes by before it all suddenly went quiet as Denzo felt a tinge of despair with his mother giving up so quickly but much to his amusement the banging came back as immediate as when it had stopped, giving him another chance to savor her annoyance as he listens to it like music to his ears.

The shouting and banging went on for a couple of minutes and the longer it went the more it became annoying as Denzo he already finished his cigarette whilst his mother was still insistently making some noise from his bedroom. He also found it peculiar that she didn’t just storm out of the room to reprimand him face to face, or even slap the cigarette off from his fingers like he thought she would have done as he finally stops to actually listen to what she was saying from his room.

‘Let me out of here you idiot! You broke the goddamn door!’

And as soon as he realized another set of peculiar noises came charging from inside the house. They were the strange noises that he heard in the living room earlier.

The noises that he kept ignoring.

‘Brother? Can you at least help us get the door open? Mom can’t get out.’

A younger male voice speaks out from the doorway as Denzo sees two children, a boy and a girl, who sort of look like him, call out to him and ask for some assistance. Denzo rolls his eyes and goes back into the house as if no one stood by the door, making his way back upstairs to check what has happened.

‘Fuck… wedged it… bent the frame too…’ He muttered to himself as he took a step back to see how much damage he had done. ‘Damn, all that work making me carry stuff is giving me results.’ He thought as he noticed how the door had caved out towards him, with a hairline crack dividing its width, splintering the wood where the door knob is.

‘I wonder if I should kick it in the opposite direction?’ He analyzed, taking a step back to give himself some ground.

‘Alright stand back… I'm gonna kick it open.’ Denzo flatly warns his mother as he preps himself to strike.

‘Kick?! Can’t you just nudge it with your--’

-CrAaAACCKkKk-

His mother was in the midst of protesting his methods when the door suddenly flew open along with his foot, successfully freeing her from the blockage. But as things settle down in the aftermath, Denzo sees how his handiwork had busted one of the hinges off the frame as his door hung awkwardly to the side. Not to mention the hairline crack across the door had splintered across its length as an obvious bend can be noticed now more than before. Rendering it useless.

‘WHY DID YOU KICK IT??!’

She shouts at him, annoyed that he didn’t even listen to her and went ahead with his reckless plan.

‘It’s open right?’ Denzo scoffs as he goes in to get his bag, thinking it was already time for him to leave for work. His mother looks at him in disbelief as he coldly retrieves his things without making any eye contact and without saying anything more to her, leaving his room without even acknowledging his own mother who had fallen to the ground because of his actions.

‘Where did I go wrong with you Denzo?’ She asks him just as he was leaving. Strangely, it was intriguing enough for him to stop him in his tracks, just outside of his room.

‘When you made the decision to give birth to me.’ He said as various memories play in his mind. Memories in the past when he was growing up that made him feel certain things about himself and his family.

‘Wha-- what do you mean Denzo? What now? Are you trying to make me regret giving birth to you? Is that--’

‘I’m not trying if you already do…’ He interjects, as he walks away without a word, with his mother looking speechless at his silhouette as he disappears under the staircase.

Out of all the commotion that surrounded their fight Denzo had an epiphany. It had happened when he felt the resistance of the stuck door giving in under the force of his kick. The sudden freedom and clarity coming from the light that suddenly beamed through his pupils when it suddenly swung open. The fresh air that rushed in, and the freedom that he had felt.

It made him realize something.

Something that his mother, who’s understandably shocked, failed to notice.

He came inside the house with a single bag. He left with two.

One was the same one he brought in. Already filled with the things he needed for that day at work.

The other was the one she packed.

To: BitCH_BOSSLADY

(I’m gonna be late today.)

(Something came up)

(How late?)

(An hour.)

(K)

To: Aida-StRta

(On my way there)

-Beep-beep-

‘Hmm?’

Something had grabbed Aida’s attention as she dropped what she was doing in order to check out what it was. She makes a short jog towards her bed and picks up the suspect for the sound.

‘What?!’

‘...’

‘Yes. Tisha I’m home, what is it?’

‘...’

‘Yea I know what happened yesterday-- yeah umm.’

‘What with Pete? Now?’

‘...’

‘Wha-- Have you contacted Denzo? He’s the one who knows the details.’

‘I dunno Tish…’

‘...’

‘Yeaaaahh… I’ll--’

‘...’

‘I’ll call you back okay?’

‘...’

‘Tisha I know but I’m also not sure so…’

‘I’ll call you okay? Promise.’

‘...’

‘Okay… bye.’

‘Godammit…’

Aida sighs as she disconnects the call thinking about how she should answer her. She knew it was unfair that Denzo had shared the info in the absence of most of the people in the group but then she doesn’t even know the full extent of the plan either making Pete’s request outlandishly impossible to accomplish. She tried to remember most of what Denzo had told them, hoping she and Nica could piece it together along with Yukino but only a few key points have remained in her memory.

She was about to call back to decline Pete’s request when another notification pings on her phone.

‘Denzo?’

-Knock knock-

‘Come in.’ A man wearing a straw hat comes in, taking his hat off and revealing his salt and peppered hair, putting his hat to his chest as a sign of respect.

‘Hello Mrs. Morita. I hope you and your son are enjoying your time.’ He said as Mrs. Morita nods and smiles as she takes a demure sip from her iced tea. ‘I know it’s been a short notice but we have prepared the villa for you to the best that we could… I mean… Please consider this our thanks. After all, we've been looking for a buyer for a long time so we could get this beautiful land up and running to its former glory…

Needless to say. We are so glad that you’ve decided to purchase this and we’ll be forever grateful for your patronage.’ The man continued as Mrs. Morita nods and smiles as the man bows before her and backs away.

‘Well then madam… sir… I shall take my leave now. Good day.’ The man bids farewell, leaving only the mother and son alone inside the rundown villa.

‘Oh holy hell I thought he wouldn’t leave.’ The boy stands up from his chair and looks towards his mother, smiling as his mother looks back at him with a curious face.

‘You can revert back to your usual face now, Layla.’ Neil said as Layla’s “mature features” morph back to her usual height and figure, leaving her dress severely oversized for her as Neil undresses her and puts away her clothes in a drawer nearby.

‘Now all that’s left is to act out Mrs. Morita’s exit back to California and leaving two of her children here to stay at the villa.’ Neil said as Layla daintily dresses herself back into her underwear.

‘Yes Master but, If I may ask one thing…’

‘What is it?’ Neil looks back towards Layla who was standing in front of him with all her exposed glory as he hears his own heartbeat getting louder.

‘Out of all the places we could stay on, rent out or even buy out… With the capital you have in your account, we could’ve gotten a better bargain, yes?’ She asks coyly as for a brief moment Neil’s senses had stopped functioning.

‘Oh… umm yeah that… We needed a place that’s secure and obscure enough that even if we leave a papertrail, the authorities or whoever wouldn’t suspect a thing.’

‘So you brought the most unprofitable portion of the beach?’ She answers back as she sits on his lap with no other clothes on besides her unmentionables. Neil at first braced himself to handle her android weight, but it seems that Layla had been aware of his struggles and for some reason had adjusted her system to make herself “feel and weigh” like the girl of her stature.

Especially after seeing the exact person whom she was based off of.

‘Yeah… I thought that the lots near where the fishermen dump their catch would be the cheapest lots but it turns out the more pebbled the beach, the less value it brings…

Even if it yields views like this.’

He said with a quaint smile in his eyes as the two of them looked at the turquoise blue ocean ahead of them underneath a nearly cloudless deep blue sky. The sand, while it's as white as fresh snow, was littered with pebbles and rocks, making it difficult to traverse barefoot. But nonetheless, if one could look past that, it was a beautiful spot.

‘I’m pretty sure those dumdums who sold us the land thought they’d just pulled off a highway robbery and sold us their burden. When the truth is…’

‘We’re the ones who’d just robbed them?’ She butts in with a sly smile. Neil looks at her and returns her expression in kind.

‘You’re learning.’ He said teasingly.

‘I like being an evil genius.’ She responds back with a chuckle.

‘Well… I guess the next step now is to get this dump of a house fixed up and maybe extended.’ Neil thought loudly as Layla looked at him, eagerly awaiting what ideas he might have for their dwelling.

‘Extended? Why?’ She eagerly asked.

‘Well I AM thinking of permanently staying here you know? So I’m thinking of setting up a legit business here. I mean… We can’t just live our lives stealing bank accounts and passwords right?’ He said as Layla gives him a tight hug, quickly forgetting her system protocols as she gives him a painful squeeze and releasing her weight limits. Comically almost choking him and having their plastic chair break under her weight as the two of them end up on the ground.

Neil caressed his neck after feeling Layla’s sudden strength as Layla profusely apologized for her clumsiness.

But Neil shrugs it off and gives her a kiss.

As the two look at each other in the middle of the day under a run down house on an island somewhere no one can find them.

Somehow their first thought of the situation was to laugh.

And laugh they did.